Valentines Day
by a starr in photo
Summary: Emily isn't used to fanfare for Valentine's day, not since the kids. Spencer, though, is determined to change that. For Not A Droid for the Valentine's Day Challenge. Oneshot. Fluffy


A/N: For Not A Droid. Hope its okay! If not I can try again!

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It had been a long, and torturous case. Girls being wooed by a fancy stranger with a large wallet and some knowledge on how desperate girls could be around Valentine's day. Emily Prentiss was not looking forward to returning home. She knew what awaited her was sure to be more stressful than what she had come from. Four genius children running around their home with a babysitter who was at her wits end. And someone, Emily could be sure, was locked in the closet. And it was probably Julien. It was always Julien. For some reason, while extraordinarily smart, even compared to his father, the boy was incredibly gullible. And quite often, simply to shut him up, Onri or one of the twins locked him up in the closet. There would be no time to sleep, even though it was Valentine's day. In all honesty, the day hadn't been very special for the two of them since before Onri, their first child about nine years ago. But for now, she smiled, glancing up at Reid with her head in his lap, they had peace and quiet. Relatively of course, because Morgan was laughing over the phone with Garcia and Rossi and Hotch were sitting in the corner with hushed whispers between the two of them. Still, it was better than the chaos and noise at home. The plane was all the quiet they would ever get. At least until the kids were all old enough for sleepovers.

Reid bent over, his flexibility always managed to startle Emily, and his lips brushed her ear as he whispered, "this year will be different." She raised an eyebrow, unsure of exactly what he meant. Their plane ride was only half an hour more, but it was dark as they got off, falling into separate cars for the journey to their home. They always considered carpooling, but hadn't gotten around to it, the routine had been established when Reid still had to drop the kids off at daycare, instead of leaving them with the nanny, something that Emily always felt a little guilty about. The kids liked their nanny, Elizabeth, she was their friend. However the excited squeals and leaping hugs and the kisses, they were still reserved for their mother, and Emily relished it, having missed that sort of connection with her own mother.

Somehow, someway, Reid made it home first, Emily noted as she pulled into their winding driveway. His car was there, Elizabeth's wasn't, and so he had clearly already sent the nanny home. She slung her bag over her shoulder as she stepped out of the car and walked up the front steps, pushing the door open, fully expecting an assault of the senses. Instead, she was assaulted by silence, an odd thing in her chaotic world. She glanced down, a small note at her feet, the beginning of a trail of petals, not roses, she noted, but peonies. Emily reached down and picked up the note.

Emmy,

Don't worry, the kids are at Elizabeth's for the night. We've skipped over far too many Valentine's Days in the past, and I didn't want to miss this one as well. I didn't want to use roses. You're far to special for something as ordinary as that, peonies are meant to represent love from the person too shy to say it. And I know that I'd be willing to shout it to the world now, but once we were too shy to say it. The peonies are for the lost time. I'll see you in a minute.

All my love,

Spencer

A grin spread across the brunette's face, she couldn't help it. From anyone else, it would have been cheesy, but it was Spencer, and he didn't say things he didn't mean. She set the card down on the table and pulled off her coat, dropping it on the table as well before following the trail of petals up stairs and down the hall to their bedroom. Emily pushed the door open. The floor and bed were scattered with flowers, not just petals, and not just peonies, snapdragons and sunflowers and ranunculus as well. And sitting on the bed, legs crossed still dressed in his khakis and a sweater vest, was Spencer Reid, boxes of chocolate in front of him.

"Snapdragons symbolize desire," he explained quickly, before she had a chance to question anything, "and I still haven't lost any desire for you. Sunflowers represent pure love, for you, and for our children. These ones," he held up the yellow flower, "represent radiance." His cheeks were tinged red. "And I got you chocolates, because even though they're so cliché, you love chocolate, and I never want to disappoint you." Spencer looked up at her, waiting for a reaction.

Emily blinked, trying to process everything at once. After all those years, she would have expected to understand his nervous babble a bit more quickly, but she hadn't and so she stood there, mouth slightly agape.

"Valentine's day wasn't originally about love you know," fact babble was setting in, Spencer glanced at her face with a worried look, fearful of her reaction now. "Saint Valentine lived during the reign of Claudius II who banned marriages. Disgruntled, the saint continued to perform marriages and was eventually jailed. His jailer's daughter was blind and had heard of miracles that Valentine had performed. He brought his daughter to the saint and he gave her sight. He was martyred on Feb 14th 270 AD. Before, however, he wrote a note to the jailer's daughter, in affect, the first 'Valentine' telling her that he loved her. This of course, was Christian love, not romantic love. The Catholic church then proceeded to honor St. Valentine by sending notes called valentines to those they cared about on the day of his death. Later on, our Beloved Chaucer wrote the first love poem called 'Parliament of Fowls', which associated Valentines with love and thus, the beginning of our lovely hallmark holiday." The words tumbled out of his mouth at rapid speed, nearly incomprehensible. Finished, he bit his lip and looked back to Emily.

She said nothing but just walked to the bed. In fluid movements, she pinned him to the bed, knocking the chocolates over, sending the sweets scattering off the floor as she brushed her lips against his. A grin spread across Spencer's lips as he returned the kiss. He pulled away slightly and rolled over, pinning Emily to the bed. "Do you like it?" She could see the hesitance in his eyes despite the grin on his face.

"A night of silence with you? How could I not?" Emily grinned, reaching up to tuck a piece of Spencer's long hair behind his ear. It was only then that she heard the soft music drifting through the room.

"And when two lovers woo  
They still say, I love you  
On this you can rely  
No matter what the future brings"

Trust Spencer, of course, to get everything perfect, down to the absolute last detail. Emily smiled.

"I love you."

"I love you too."


End file.
